David Stone

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution announces with deep sorrow the death April 12, 2010 of Life Trustee and Honorary Member, David B. Stone.   David joined the Associates Program in 1967.  He served as a Trustee from 1973 to 1990, was elected an Honorary Trustee (now known as Life Trustee) in 2004, and also served as a Member of the Corporation from 1969 to 1998 before election as an Honorary Member.  David was Chair of the Access to the Sea Committee (formerly Ships) from 2007 to 2010; he became a member of this committee in 1992, serving as its Co-chair from 2004 to 2007.   David was a member of the Coastal Ocean Institute Committee, and over the course of his long affiliation with the Institution, also served on the Campaign, Finance, Investment, Nominating (Chair: 1975-1976), and Employee Retirement Trust committees. 

David Barnes Stone was born September 2, 1927 in Brookline, Massachusetts, the son of the late Robert G. and Bertha L. (Barnes) Stone.  He was the grandson of Galen L. Stone, for whom the World War II Liberty ship, the SS Galen L. Stone was named.  He was a member of the U.S. Merchant Marines from 1945-1947.  David received his AB in Economics from Harvard College and MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration.  Upon graduation, he joined the firm of Hayden, Stone & Co., remaining with its successor Hayden Stone Inc.  In 1967, while serving as Director and Chairman of the Executive Committee, he resigned to join his father at North American Management, an investment firm founded by his father in 1928, where he was named President and later became Chairman Emeritus.  David was Overseer and Founding President of New England Aquarium, and Director of Boston Municipal Research Bureau.  During his career, he served as a Trustee of Massachusetts Financial Services, Charles Hayden Foundation, Massachusetts Horticultural Society, and Wellesley College; Chairman of Memorial Drive Trust; Corporator of Boston Society for Natural History and Northeastern University; and was a member on various visiting committees at Harvard University. 

David and his wife Margot lived in Marion, Massachusetts.  He was the father of six sons from two prior marriages: Andrew; Benjamin; Daniel; Jonathan; Peter; and the late David S. Stone.  David’s family has had close ties to the Institution since the early 1960s.  His parents were WHOI Associates; his late brother, Robert G. Stone, Jr., was a former Member of the Corporation; and his cousin Hardwick Simmons currently serves as a Trustee and a Member of the Corporation. 

Chapman Cole & Gleason of Wareham is handling arrangements for the memorial service.